The Mighty Turtle
by TurtleHermitX
Summary: Krillin, the earth's mightiest human. He's constantly proven that power without skill is nothing, but having felt first hand what overwhelming power is throughout the years the mightiest human starts to doubt if his martial arts skills are of no use. That is until he witnesses his old master surpass his limits with skill alone. There might be hope yet, for the mighty turtle.
1. Chapter 1: The Climb

Chapter 1. The Climb

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The tournament of power is over and thanks to the fighters of universe 7 the multiverse lives another day. There was a big celebration at capsule corporation with everyone enjoying the time of peace. Majin Buu had finally woken up and was very confused, but still enjoyed the food no less. After Goku and Vegeta went off to spar, many of the others said their goodbyes as well. One warrior stands on the balcony of the celebration looking out into the distance with a smile on his face. He remembers a time when he and his friends were on equal footing when it came to martial arts and their early adventures. Everything changed the day he found out his best friend was from another planet, that's when the gap between them started to widen, at least that's what he told himself. It wasn't all bad he though, if it wasn't for Goku he probably wouldn't have ever met 18. He leaned over the railing and smiled.

"Well that's that." He says to himself and turns towards the others when he sees his own reflection in a pair of large shades. "Ah!" He rubs his chest a little startled. "Don't sneak up on me like that master."

"Hmph, if you can let an old man like me sneak up on you then you still have a lot to learn Krillin." Master Roshi stated with his arms behind his back. It reminded him of the old days when Master Roshi still fought in tournaments. As Jackie Chun.

"Well, you are the strongest old man in the world possibly a couple of universes." Krillin's eyes became comically smaller. "You lasted much longer than I did." He laughed and then looked back into the sky.

"So that's it?" Master Roshi stated.

"What?"

"Don't be ashamed Krillin, I know why you were here instead with the rest of the party. The same reason Tienshinhan left early and Yamcha has been making jokes this whole time." Krillin looked down at his hands and slowly shook his head.

"Master, I think you're mistaken." He lifts his face and forces a smile.

"Stop it Krillin! Where is your warriors' spirit?" The words cut into him like a knife. "When I look at you and Goku, I still see the same two young boys who came to my island with unlimited potential." Krillin's hands gripped around the railing of the balcony. "One may possess a natural gift to surpass his limits while the other is too afraid to test theirs."

"That's not it!" Krillin's voice echo out causing most of the people in the party to look up towards the two. "I tried to keep up with him, I really did. I'm only human, not only can they go super saiyan but they have the power of the gods now!"

"Have you forgotten the essence of martial arts?" Krillin felt so attacked, even after he prepared before the tournament he knew his master was right. He had given up martial arts for a silly reason and then rushed to get back in shape out of necessity. Still, it wasn't something that hurt to hear.

"I think I'm going to leave too." Krillin turned and walked towards his family.

"Power isn't everything. I wasn't only showing that technique to Goku, it was for all of my students." Krillin froze for a moment and then thought about how his old master who he foolishly believed was at his limit; had bested one of the strongest people throughout 11 universes. He turned to his master and bowed. t wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it was needed. Krillin walked away to go join his family and rest of the party while a certain large caped warrior leaned against a tree as he walked by. There was a smirk on his face. On the way home Krillin was uncharacteristically quiet. Those movements from his master were a culmination of every technique mixed with battle experience he had. It almost looked as if he had thrown all of it away and let his body react. "Essence of martial arts." He thought.

"What's that matter Krillin, you were staring off into space." The sound of his wife's voice snapped him out of it.

"Oh, nothing dear." She looked down at him then touched his face.

"Well don't let nothing become something else." She said, as he smiled in return.

That night when his wife and daughter were sleeping he found that he couldn't. He got up and went to his workout room where he kept some of his old gear. He opened the closet to see his gi from the cell games which was mostly still intact. It was a little loose from the loss in muscle but he put it on and smacked the sides of his face. He flew out to the area where Goku and Vegeta sparred and decided to use the image training technique. The terrain looked as if two bombs had gone off with rubble everywhere. Finding a spot in the middle of the destruction he landed and closed his eyes. The cool night air blew threw his loose gi causing it to flutter slightly as he concentrated. He slowly pushed his ki outwards to until he could pick up the movements, which was extremely difficult sense he couldn't sense the god ki. He did however have years of experience as a martial artist and now as a cop, so he pulled the clues of the destruction nearby to get clear images of both Goku and Vegeta's fight. He took a breath and then dropped into a stance while concentrating on their images powering up to their god forms. Even though it was just an image, after having sparred with Goku in his god form he started to sweat. The first attack came way too fast for him to react as the image dispersed with its fist vanishing through his head. The shock sent him flying backwards as he sat sweating alone in the night his hand gripped into the dirt. He got up and tried again, and again. Each time he was hit with unavoidable blows which started to physically manifest as bruises.

"It's impossible." He said as he looked down at the dirt. "Power isn't everything?!" His master's words were meant to encourage him, but they had only stirred a deep pain within him that slowly turned to anger. "It's always been about power!? White swirls of ki started to form around his gi. "Each threat we've faced hasn't given the slightest care about our martial arts skill." The white flame blew past his face and up towards the sky as he yelled at the moon. "I've died, 3 times!" his energy expands and causes the crater under his feet to deepen. "I couldn't even protect my family." His ki now exploding around him reminiscent of when Guru had unlocked his abilities on Namek. "Limits?" Krillin gripped his fists and crouched down then threw his arms to the side and yelled as loud as he could while his energy was at its highest output. Dust and rocks started to fall from the air as Krillin's chest heaved in and out. On Roshi's island, the old man stood out on his porch looking into the distance of his student's rising energy.

"You've taken the first step Krillin. Let it out." He smiled.

"Are you done?" A deep voice said from atop one of the large rock faces. He looked up to see the Piccolo with his arms crossed, cape fluttering in the wind.

"How long have you been there?" Krillin said as he stood back up and dropped into a horse stance.

"Long enough." Piccolo dropped down to the ground next to the much shorter warrior, landing softly. "So, you've finally decided to take your training seriously again?"

"I don't know what I've decided, but this is a good place to start." He says, moving his hands around in a turtle style form. Piccolo took off his turban and shoulder pads causing Krillin to stop.

"What are you doing?"

"You know." The large warrior cracks his neck. "I was never satisfied with our first fight."

"You were too powerful."

"No, you just gave up. Even after showing me the folly of underestimating you." Piccolo said as he dropped down into a stance as well.

"Are you serious?"

"You should be, or will you give up again?" Krillin's rage started to boil so he dug his feet into the earth and pointed his open palms towards Piccolo.

"Fine." There was a stillness between them with wind kicking up some dust. In the next moment Krillin yelled and dashed towards his opponent. He delivered a quick combination of punches and kicks which were all dodged. One punch he left out too lung and received a foot in his stomach for his troubles, followed by a dropping elbow sending chest first into the dirt. He was able to narrowly dodge a stump meant for his back by rolling to his left and pushing himself off the ground. As soon as he was in the air, he put his arms up to guard the big green palm approaching him. The hand gripped his forearms and then he found himself being propelled in the air on Piccolo's stretched arm. Krillin was able to break free just before he would have been slammed into a large rock face, landing on it with both feet. He was already out of breath, a combination of letting his ki explode earlier coupled with the image training he had done.

"Come on Krillin." He said to himself. "Power isn't everything." He heard his master's words and then built some ki around his feet. Piccolo tilted his head before the sound of a boom exploded in the air. Krillin had sent his ki through the rock destroying most of it, and propelled himself at his opponent like a missile. He noticed that both of Piccolo's arms were out of view and then used a ki blast to change his trajectory while dodging another stretched limb aimed for his head. As he twirled he saw the light of something above him and quickly had to dodge multiple ki blasts falling towards him. He ended up having to turn with his back to his opponent to fire ki blasts of his own to cancel out the rest. While looking up at the cloud of smoke Piccolo noticed Krillin's form blast up towards the moonlight.

"Solar Flare!" He said lighting the night sky up with his ki. It wasn't as effective as it would have been during the day but it got the job done. Krillin then vanished and appeared in front of his opponent to deliver a solid kick but too his surprise it was blocked. Piccolo smiled revealing his eyes were closed. Krillin then followed up with more strikes but every one of them was blocked and diverted. After nearly taking a returning claw strike to the chest Krillin jumped backwards with a ripped gi. He was really breathing heavily now.

"What's wrong? You tired?" Piccolo said and then let his aura explode around him revealing just how strong he really was. Krillin looked down at his bruised forearms and torn gi. He straightened up and took a breath, then dropped back down into his stance.

"Okay, let's go." Krillin said.

"Bring it little man." Piccolo sounding more and more like his demon days. They both flew at each other darting in and out of view, connecting with each other's attacks creating booms in the air. Krillin's breathing started to steady and Piccolo noticed the attacks coming from his opponent were changing. After Krillin landed a right hand palm strike against his large green forearm, Piccolo wasn't able to predict or dodge the following left back hand which came from the momentum of the palm strike being blocked. It didn't do much damage but it set Krillin up to land another follow up knee to Piccolo's midsection which he was able to block with his own knee but again the momentum was used for Krillin to land a hard elbow to his exposed gut. It was like Krillin was practicing on a wooden dummy. The elbow set Krillin up in the right position to cup his palms, his opponent knew what was coming next. A point-blank range Kamehameha engulfing his large green body until it was completely gone. Krillin prepared for the next attack as he knew he had only fired on an after image. Below him he started to see a yellow glow and leaned back as a fast moving ki ball hit his chin. It flew upwards but didn't dissipate, in fact it changed direction just like Yamcha's spirit ball but then flew downwards towards him. His only choice was to cancel it out, so he charged his fist with ki and went to punch it but it separated into many smaller orbs and he found himself surrounded. They blasts bombarded his body for what seemed like minutes until he was floating to the ground covered in bruises. Piccolo emerged with half of his gi blown off as well, it looked like he didn't completely dodge Krillin's attack.

"Heh, if you fought this seriously all the time."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Krillin said as he dropped to one knee exhausted, Piccolo on the other hand didn't look too worse for wear. Krillin attributed to the large power difference between them.

"Power isn't everything." He heard his masters words and then dropped to a more relaxed stance. Piccolo smirked and then decided that he would go on the offensive this time. He dashed towards Krillin with a chop aimed straight for his neck but to his surprise it was avoided. It wasn't like the technique Roshi or Goku used, but the movements were similar almost instinctual. Krillin then slammed his foot into the earth and felt his energy running through the ground. He pulled the ki back out of the earth and channeled it into his right shoulder to push into Piccolo's exposed ribs sending him skidding a few feet expelling liquids from his mouth. Krillin's breath was shallow but he didn't feel as exhausted as he did earlier. Something about the way he used his energy with the earth had greatly increased the attack with little to no blowback.

"So, it looks like you figured it out. Your master was right, you are a genius. Definitely a more competent fighter than Goku." Krillin stood up straight then smiled then fell to his butt.

"Ah, I get it. Master Roshi sent you." He said as Piccolo walked over rubbing his ribs.

"No." He points to his ears.

"Former Guardian of the planet remember."

"Doesn't make it any less creepy." Krillin said, making Piccolo laugh which wasn't something he had ever seen before.

"In any event, no one said you could rest." Krillin felt his body tingling and going numb in places, something he hadn't felt since the early grueling days of his training. He got up and bowed to his old friend just as he did his master which caught the Namekian by surprise.

18 was shocked when the morning rolled in and Piccolo was standing outside with a Krillin who looked like he had been hit by a bus. She glared at Piccolo until Krillin mustered a thumbs up.

"Hmph, put him on the couch." She said and tended to his wounds while Piccolo went to leave. "You too."

"But I…" His statement was cut short by 18's icy glare.

When Krillin woke up, he was alone in the bed. It was in the afternoon and he was glad that he still had some leave from work. It also didn't hurt that Bulma had given them a lot of zeni to make up for Goku's trickery. He sat up and found a note from 18 stating they had gone shopping and would return later. He was certain Piccolo had left after having his wounds treated, not like he really needed it since he heals fairly quickly. There were new weighted training clothes equipped with new style boots sitting in his workout room, which caused him to smile. The tightness in his muscles had started to loosen when he pulled his belt tight.

"Alright, here we go."


	2. Chapter 2: Target

Chapter 2. Target

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Out in space on a large cruiser ship, a mighty tyrant is making plans to gather the dragonballs of Earth since new Namek has been hidden from him. He had just sent two of his soldiers out to do the heavy lifting while he stayed on his ship watching their pod fly off towards the blue orb. His large tail swishes around in the air as the door opens and the sound of footsteps approach.

"Did you know that after my 1st resurrection, I fought in grand battle against other universes?" The small tyrant said in a deep gravelly voice. The tall hooded figured in the room didn't respond only stood there silently. "I encountered a great number of warriors from a twin universe, and even one who was my counterpart. Greatly inferior but still." He turned towards the figure. "I knew that there should be counterparts to their strongest warriors and scoured the universe for you." The warrior was still silent. "Not much for words, just like the other I see. In any event I would like for you to go down to the planet to make sure certain other vermin don't interfere with my plans. There are two insufferable saiyan's that I already have plans for, but there are others who might need to be dealt with discretely. He pulled up video from his last battle on earth and freeze framed on Krillin.

"Start with the bald one, he should be the easiest and I must admit I would enjoy seeing his little face squirm again."

"As long as the payment is there, I can get you as many screams as you want."

"Oh, how very down to business. Very well." The tyrant gestures to one of his henchmen who holds an open glowing case. The tyrant closes and looks at the hooded figure. "After." The figure doesn't say anything just vanishes from the room with some form of teleportation. Another soldier comes into the room.

"The saiyan father and son are ready lord Freiza."

"Ho ho ho." The Tyrant looks through the window out into space his red eyes reflecting in the glass.

Just outside Satan city on an oceanside cliff, Krillin stood near the edge crouched in a horse stance, with a large weighted turtle shell on his back. He held his arms out in front of him while taking deep breathes. In the distance 18 sat watching Marron chase butterflies when she felt a warmth coming from her husband. Marron started clapping as she felt it as well. Swirls of energy were gathering from the wind and the very earth where Krillin was planted firmly. He started to shift his body until his left leg was behind him and his right leg was extended behind him and his left leg was bent. At the same time his body shifted he circled his palms until the touched at the wrists near the center of his abdomen where the energy had been building. In one fluid motion he fired a large kamehameha wave out unto the ocean.

"Ha!" he yelled as the blast split the surface of the water. He then quickly moved his hands upwards causing the wave to arc high into the sky and then pushed his palms downward. The large blast split multiple small ones filling the sky above the ocean like stars in the night. "Hup" he then blasted upwards into the sky meeting the falling orbs head on. 18 watched her husband's small nimble form vanish and reappear quickly striking each blast. His martial arts forms changed each time as if he was performing a very intricate dance. She had watched his progress over the past month even allowing him to take continue his leave from the force to concentrate more on his training. They weren't hurting for money in any event, as Bulma had given them double the zeni prize Goku promised 18 for participating in the tournament of power. "Ki-ya" he yelled as he flew upwards into the final orb with his fist extended in front of him. He floated just above the cloud of smoke letting the sun hit his face as the ocean breeze fluttered through his gi. He descended and landed near his family. "Phew." he said as 18 threw him a towel.

"That turtle shell still looks silly."

"You knocking my style?"

"Turtle Papa!" Marron said as she jumped over her father to touch his shell. Krillin still hadn't gotten used to his daughter's strength. When they returned from the tournament, Goten and Trunks wouldn't stop talking about how strong Marron was and he had somehow missed it.

"Hmph."

"See someone thinks I'm cool..."

"Don't you say it."

"Mondo cool." 18 rolled her eyes as Krillin picked up his daughter. "What do you say you train with your old man sometime?" Marron looked at her mother who nodded in return. "I won't go as easy as your mother." He joked knowing it would be completely the other way around. They had a nice lunch and sat watching the ocean for a while. Krillin had changed over the last month. Having gone back to seriously training, he bulked up close to the size he was during his three-year training that would end up leading him to his wife. His hair was a little longer, but not as long as it had been when Goku returned from the afterworld. Thanks to Piccolo and Dende he had a new set of weighted clothing and Master Roshi was able to get mystically weighted turtle shell from Ba Ba. He had been hesitant to bring his family along to watch him train but as much as he loved Goku like a brother, he didn't want to strain his relationship with his family for the sake of martial arts. If you had asked him this years ago, he would have had a completely different answer but now he fought for more than just himself.

"Alright Krillin, it's time." 18 said as Marron slept peacefully under a tree. She cracked her knuckles and watched her husband slowly stand up to his feet. He smiled and assumed a fighting stance.

"Try not to break my shell this time, I just got it!"

"Hmph!" She dashed at him with a right cross, which he redirected by tapping her wrist slightly and pushing it away sending her slightly off course. He then went for a quick knee only for 18 to use her left hand to block it while pushing herself upwards into a front summersault bringing down her heel in an axe kick that crushed the ground below as Krillin dodged backwards. 18 didn't let up, pursuing him with multiple strikes each one he was able to parry or dodge. Their forms vanished in and out of view over the ocean and exchanged attacks in the sky. At one point they were volleying a single ki ball between the two of them with kicks, getting faster and faster. 18 smirked and then her eyes went cold and sharp, as the sound of her infinite energy engine kicked on and the next volley from her shin exploded towards Krillin with great speed. He decided to block it but it curved like a professional soccer player strike, with the ki ball hitting him on the shell.

"Hey, my shell!" he said as his body jerked forward. The next moments consisted of him guarding from a flurry of high speed attacks, finishing her rush with a high kick sending him higher into the sky. She realized her mistake as his image started to fade with the sun. "Solar Flare!" She quickly looked downwards to avoid being blinded only to see several ki attacks approaching her from below. She destroyed all of them with blasts of her own and saw Krillin body flying close to the surface of the water.

"Gotcha!" She fired blasts down at him but he flew fast enough to keep them just behind as a large wave of water erupted in front of him. A fist came through the wave's directly at his face leaving him little time to avoid it. He slowed things down as fast as he could and stayed calm. 18 felt the surface of his face but something was wrong. To her surprise she hit nothing but air after being sure that it had connected. Her next thoughts escaped her as a well-placed punch to her mid-section caused all the oxygen in her lungs to escape. Then the hard surface of the turtle shell hitting her back she would have crashed down into the water if not for Krillin holding her arm.

"What was that? I was sure I hit you."

"Oh, you did alright." Krillin rubbed his face. "I still haven't perfected the technique." 18's eyes widened and then she looked over to Marron who was still sound asleep.

"So, that's what all of that image training was for."

"Yeah, pretty useful when you get it right." He said finally taking his turtle shell off and letting it dig into the ground with its immense weight.

"Wow, Krillin. I thought you were done amazing me." She leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "But it looks like I need to train, can't have you be the one holding back. Besides 17 was able to get that much stronger, so should I." Krillin shuddered at the thought. The sun was starting to set as Marron slept in her father's arms. They made it all the way home without her waking up and were able to put her to bed. Krillin and 18 both cleaned up for bed and sat in their living room drinking tea. She watched her husband as he prepared the tea to pour two cups. "So, are you going to wait for another universe ending tournament to test your skills again?" Krillin turned and handed her a cup.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, unless any of your other friends entered you won't have much competition at the worlds martial arts tournament."

"I don't know 18, it's a pretty big world." He poured his cup and sat at the table. "Pretty big universe even." He looked out of the window as he took a sip of his tea and spit it out because it was too hot. 18 took a sip with no problem.

"Show off." He said as she smiled at him. For a moment he looked up towards the open window as a night breeze blew in.

"What is it?" She asked. Krillin looked for a while and then smiled again.

"Nothing, I thought I felt a strange energy but it was nothing I guess." Outside in the park nearby, a figure appears behind a tree shrouded in darkness.

"That was close." The figure said as he ducks out of sight. "This may be more difficult than I had imagined." The figured vanished into the night.

The next day Krillin had gone down to the station to fill out some paperwork. When he walked into the building everyone was shocked at how different he looked. He jokingly attributed it doing some early morning jogging and tai chi in the park. He sighed when he saw that his desk was filled with a stack of papers. One of the other officers tapped him on the shoulder. "Figured you'd be bored when you came back," they said and walked off. Even though he was only there to fill out some personnel stuff, there was no need for it to sit that high so he sat down at started to get to work. Suddenly he felt that strange energy from the night before and then heard an explosion then a lot of commotion. He hurried to the front to see what was going on when it came through on the radio. People reported that while some thugs were robbing a bank, one of them somehow flattened nearly half a city block and injured multiple people.

"No way that's a coincidence." Krillin said and then sprang into action, his speed getting to the location didn't leave any time for discretion. Many onlookers were shocked to see him literally falling from the sky after being engulfed in a white flame. "What's going on here?" he asked to the first responders.

"Some perps held up the Satan city bank, but one of them has some weird weapon we can't get close to the bank." Krillin looked at the parking lot and saw multiple indentions in the asphalt. They almost looked like large fists. Suddenly the doors kicked open and bullets started flying.

"Take that coppers!" the voice said as they fired from a sub machine gun. What they saw made them stop firing immediately, the short muscular person before him had turned into a tornado and literally caught every last bullet. "No way." He said and went to reload as Krillin walked towards the bank dropping the lead on the ground.

"You guys should let those hostages go and give yourselves up." There was silence from the inside of the bank as the robbers were literally shaking. Krillin stopped as he felt that strange energy again and quickly dashed to left as the ground flattened where he had been standing. "What?" he said to himself as he landed in a guarded position. He looked up on top of the bank to see a hooded figure looking down at him.

"What's going on out there?" One robber said to the other.

"I don't know, but that stranger who helped us out earlier is back and it looks like he's going to try and fight that freak cop."

"Fine by me, while they are fighting we can take the money and…" They turned to see multiple cops had breached through the back entrance. Krillin's diversion worked, but he wasn't concentrated on that.

"You were outside of my house last night, weren't you?" He said as he gripped his fist. Sirens sounded as another police car approached with two officers Krillin had gone through the academy with.

"Looking good Krillin San! Don't worry, we'll back you up."

"No, don't come close!" It was too late the car was flattened in second causing an explosion. Luckily for the two officer's Krillin's speed had increased drastically as he was able to get them both out of the car and in to the grass. The sudden change in speed caused one of them to throw up. Krillin looked up towards the hooded person and decided it was time to end this before someone got hurt. He dashed away from the people leaving potholes behind from where the strange energy seemed to follow him. "Alright it looks like he's targeting me, but that energy is odd. I can't get a good read on it." He stopped and then exploded towards the figure when whatever kind of attack it was, slammed into the ground through Krillin's after image. "Yes." His opponents hand extended towards him but Krillin rolled around it and landed a punch firmly on his face knocking his hood off. He floated in the air in disbelief for a moment looking over the alien face.

"No, it can't be. Hit!?"


	3. Chapter 3: Kame Style

Chapter 3. Kame Style

* * *

Krillin floated in the air with his arm extended as the now unhooded alien looked back at him. It was easy to see now why he had mistaken him for hit but upon closer inspection he was sure that he was looking at his universe counterpart. His skin color was red with purple undertones on his cheeks, then there were the eyes which were a piercing gold. His eyes glowed bright for a moment and his hand reached out towards Krillin who felt that same strange energy from above. He dodged it while landing on one end of the roof. The alien warrior floated down slowly until the sound of his boots clacked against the roof top. Krillin tried to piece together the type of attack his opponent was using. He couldn't sense much energy from him, but when his eyes glowed the air around him got dense.

"Who are you?" he asked as the alien rolled his neck. Krillin then watched as a butterfly flying near him struggled to stay in the air until finally falling to the rooftop surface. "That power you're using, you're manipulating gravity aren't you?"

"Such fragile things on this planet." He said as he stepped on the butterfly when approaching the turtle warrior. "My name is not important but yes, I call my ability crush."

"What do you want with me?"

"Someone has paid me to make sure and your friends don't interfere with their plan. It seems they have someone personal against you as they want a report of your pain specifically." Krillin dropped down lower into his stance as the pressure from his opponent started to intensify. He stopped just within Krillin's attack range. "Shall we begin?"

"Well, here goes nothing." Krillin said as a drop of sweat hit the ground right near his foot which vanished when he dashed towards his opponent. He feinted a high attack then went low to the ground for a sweep, but his opponent lifted his leg to avoid it then had to block a spinning heel kick as Krillin used the momentum of the missed sweep to propel himself upward. Krillin backflipped, arcing into the air then dove down with a punch that his opponent blocked with an open hand. The force of the attack sounding off in the air with a crash. Krillin felt the gloved hand of his opponent grip firmly his fist and then pull him downwards quickly for a knee aimed at his stomach but he summersaulted over the knee landing on the ground to the alien's left in a crouched position. When the alien looked down with those glowing gold eyes he saw a flash of yellow as Krillin fired a point black ki blast into his face. While the cloud of smoke was still around the face of the alien, his hand snatched the air in front of Krillin but he dodged backwards. He heard concrete breaking around him and then had to dodge pieces that came for his eyes. Firing out more ki blasts he was able to destroy them all only for his body to feel heavy suddenly. "Dirty." Krillin said as he found himself within range of his opponents ability.

"Crush." The alien said as the pressure around Krillin started to increase until the point where his feet were pushing through the concrete. "It seems that you stronger than the frost demon said. I've increased the gravity around your body by at least 200 times and you can still stand." He said as he looked down at Krillin who could barely move. Training with heavy weights was one thing, but this sensation was something completely different.

"Frost demon?" Krillin thought, and then gripped his fists in a mixture of fear and anger. "Freiza" He said in a low voice. The alien then watched as the human started to glow. The glow trailed around him like an armor until he took a breath and then stood up straight as if the pressure around him was like nothing at all.

"Cru—" before the alien could say another word he felt the might of the turtle students fist buried in his gut. For the first time in a long while he felt pain. His eyes widened as he looked at the earthling before him. "You…" next a flying knee had smashed against his nose sending him backwards, then what followed was a sensation of being inside of a whirlwind. Another fist knocked him backwards but his wrist was grabbed, keeping his body from moving as shoulder smashed into his chest. His eyes closed for a moment before seeing a shadow above him, as Krillin's body vanished in the sunlight. Both of his opponents knees came down into his collar bones sending him through the rooftop and in to the bank lobby. Krillin landed and took a breath. Thanks to his training he wasn't feeling too much fatigue but the gravity attack had strained his muscles greatly. Suddenly the building started to rumble and he saw the head of the alien warrior slowly floating out of the giant hole left by his body.

"Those attacks you used just now. What are they?" Krillin looked up at the alien warrior who looked a little disheveled and with pride he said.

"Kame style martial arts." He noticed the alien looking at him like a kid seeing a cool trick for the first time.

"Martial arts?" He responded gripping his gloved hands. "Very well." Krillin then felt something new from his opponent, that pressure from the gravity was moving inward to his opponents' body, it almost pulled him in as well. He then watched as it started to glow gold just like his eyes while the whites of his opponent's eyes turned black. The air started to vibrate as if thunder was about to sound off. Krillin felt his opponent's energy very clearly now and it was astounding. He wiped the sweat from his head and took deep breath, letting his body relax. They both felt each other out for a moment before Krillin leaned his head to the left as a piece of debris flew past his face cutting into his cheek. He then looked up and saw multiple pieces of rocks and metal flying towards him wrapped in golden energy. Jumping into the air the pieces showered unto where he had been like machine gun fire. Krillin returned fire with his own ki blasts, destroying the others flying towards him. They flew through the air at great speed firing at each other until they started to exchange physical blows. Although Krillin still had the edge in speed and technique the strikes from his opponent were strong, and getting heavier upon contact. Not only that, it felt like his own limbs were getting heavier. His muscles started to strain as it felt like he was wearing weighted clothing.

"Do you feel that earthling? Each time you touch me the gravity on your body will increase. I call it Crush Counter." Krillin floated in the air as his body started to scream at him. He breathed in and ran through his options. Every time his opponent touched him and vice versa, his limbs would get heavier. Krillin smirked and then looked towards his opponent, he then flew at him full speed letting his ki explode around him wildly. He then started to land heavy strikes against his opponent who took the damage knowing that his opponent would just get heavier, but that was part of the plan. As soon as he felt the extra weight on his limbs Krillin blasted himself right above his opponent and with ki shooting off of his legs, he turned himself into a missile and landed in the alien's chest with double fists. The irony was that it was one of Frieza's moves. The alien's back started approach the ground and the extra weight of his opponent mixed with the energy shooting out behind him was too much. "Argh, release!" he said and Krillin's weighted limbs suddenly felt light again.

"Yes!" he said but his celebration was short lived as they both smashed into the ground rolling in a soccer field. Krillin was the first to stand up dusting off his clothes, his shirt was pretty much destroyed so he pulled the rest off. The Alien stood up from his crater and looked towards Krillin.

"Aether."

"What?"

"That's the name of the person who will taking your life now."

"So, that was you not trying to kill me? Sheesh, give me a break." Krillin then felt the very earth under his feet starting to rumble as the ground started tearing away and floating above Aether.

"Maximum Crush." Krillin's body froze as everything that was floating in the air was now smashing against the ground. The gravity had to be around 400 times that of earth's as the fences and all surrounding metal objects were crushed immediately. Aether then held took a stance similar to kickboxing and approached Krillin. He could only watch as he was held in place like a heavy bag and pummeling on by Aether. After a couple of hits Aether would release the gravity so that Krillin's body would float upwards and then attack it again causing it to slam back into the earth. Between the attacks Krillin tried to find a rhythm or any kind of weakness in the gravity attack, when he noticed that each time Aether started the crush technique his eyes glowed brighter.

"Dummy." Krillin thought to himself. He then waited for Aether to release the attack again and knock him into the air like a ping pong ball. As soon as he saw those eyes glow he quickly pulled his bruised arms up to his face and was frozen again, but it didn't matter the energy was charged. "Solar flare!" The light blinded Aether, and immediately the pressure around Krillin's body was gone. "Now!" As soon as his feet touched the ground he proceeded to give Aether the business. Master Roshi would have felt nostalgic seeing all of the techniques his student was performing. Aether wouldn't see them since his vision had been blinking in and out. Krillin's confidence was short lived as Aether in the midst of being pummeled smiled as the gem on his head glowed golden. Suddenly the gold light trailed around him like a snake as the alien had dashed around him with great speed, grabbing on to the back of his shirt and then flinging the turtle warrior into the a nearby water reserve tank. "Gah!" he yelled out as fist quickly followed up burying itself within his exposed chest, rag dolling him through the metal. While his body was suddenly feeling the sensation of water slowly engulfing his body he heard his opponent say.

"Crush." The water around Krillin was held together in an orb with him inside. Bubbles started to escape his mouth as he quickly held his breath. He tried to fly upwards but the pressure around the orb was starting to become stronger. Looking down he saw the alien holding his hand in a gripping motion. "You really made me work for my money, but this is the end." Aether said as he started to squeeze his hand into a fist. The human warrior was running out of air quickly and he started to think the worst. He should have just waited for Goku or Vegeta to show up to fight this threat. He should have retreated instead of trying to be a hero. Just as he started to feel his consciousness starting to fade until suddenly he heard his masters voice.

"Move well!" Krillin saw himself sparing with his happy wife. "Learn well!" he sees himself with goku as children. "Play well." Marron jumps on his shoulder. "Eat well." He watches Goku and the others stuff their faces. "Rest well." Krillin's energy started to fill the water as if it had become one with it. "The Kame style is with you." His eyes opened and the water exploded outwards destroying Aether's energy field.

"What?" He looked perplexed as the water floated around the human warrior in circles pulsing like a heartbeat. Then slowly the small muscular warrior started moving his arms around in waves. Aether had to shake his head to clear his vision as he was sure that the smaller warrior had gotten slightly larger.

"Kaaaaaa." The light started moving down towards his hands. Aether pointed towards him and increased the gravity by more. "Meeeee Haaaaa." He struggled to stay floating in the air and his opponent used the other hand to send objects flying at his body. "Meeeeeeeeeee." The objects were stopped by the ki infused water surrounding Krillin's body. Aether stopped trying to attack and then moved all his energy into a big golden shield in front of him. "Haaaaaaaaaa!" The large blue wave of energy smashed into his golden shield like an explosion. The ki didn't escape from the sides but only increased its pressure on the shield causing it crack. The water floating around him started to swirl downwards towards his hands increasing the blue glow of the wave and then with a mighty push Krillin's attack broke through the shield of the warrior and the blast sent him flying through the air towards outer space. Krillin's arms dropped as his energy had been completely depleted, he slowly floated down towards the ground in the damaged area which looked like a tornado had blown through.

"Whoa! Krillin San that was amazing." A voice said coming from behind him, one of the officers from before had stayed in the area and came up to prop him up. "I didn't know you were a certified super hero, like that one guy. Great Sabba man?" Krillin laughed and coughed feeling the effects of those gravity attacks on his body. He looked down at his hand,

"I won." he thought and then tried to stand up straight when he felt his body slam against the earth below. "Ugh!" he said as the pressure started pounding onto his body. The officer had pulled his gun and pointed it up in the air causing Krillin to struggle and lift his eyes. Floating in the air was the warrior with his uniform pretty much destroyed, and one of his left dripping with purple blood and hanging limp at his side. His eyes were back to being white except the left one was filled with purple blood. "Oh no." The officer fired two shots at the alien but the bullets stopped mid-air. "No..run!" The officers body jerked backwards as a weak gravity kick sent him flying.

"You have my respects earthling, if I hadn't increased my own gravity, that attack would have sent me into space." Krillin looked up as his muscles screamed at him for struggling so hard. "I think after I'm done here, i'll go visit your family."

"No!" Krillin started to move slightly getting up to one knee, when the pressure increased again.

"Crush." Aether says as Krillin's vision started to fade into darkness


	4. Chapter 4: Don't sweat the technique

Chapter 4. Don't sweat the technique

* * *

Krillin's consciousness started to spiral into the darkness as if he was sinking into the ocean. There were no wise words from his master, no flashes of his family, just complete darkness. He had experienced death before, but this was something different. He was feeling everything all at once, and not at all at the same time. As he started to sink downwards, he saw a light approaching from below. The closer he got to the light, it started to become clear that it was a person whose body was made of a spiritual flame. He started to slow down as his body flipped over so that he could see the person within the flame, and to his surprise he was looking at his own face. His ki-self was standing as still as a statue while the flame flickered revealing and concealing different parts of his body. The warmth from the ki started to draw him in, so he reached out to touch it. His ki-self quickly grabbed his wrist and opened his eyes which were black pits. Krillin's eyes then opened but light came pouring out as the world around him zoomed from light the size of a pinhole to being face to face with Aether. Krillin's hand was wrapped around Aether's wrist, the alien's face showing new bruises. They were surrounded by a golden ball of energy which was getting increasingly denser.

"What?" Krillin thought to himself, as his senses started to flood back into his body. Aether was in complete shock, a simple job had pushed him to the limits of his abilities. He was certain that the earthling had lost consciousness during his crush attack but what happened next wondered if the Freiza had set him up. He had never been hit with so many lethal attacks, but now he noticed that his opponent's demeanor had changed. During his counter-attack he had been emotionless and barely conscious, now he was trying to piece together what happened.

"I see." Aether said. "You were unconscious."

"Wait, what happened?" Krillin asked and then his body trembled as he felt a monsterous energy to the North, then the sky turned black. "What the hell is going on?" He thought as he struggled to breath. Krillin let go of Aether whose golden sphere started to fade away along with the increased gravity.

"Times up. I have completed my job." Unbeknownst to both warriors, his employer Freiza had just had one of the longest beatings of his life along with his plan failing. Aether stood up straight and then rolled his limbs around. Neither warrior looked as if they could still fight, let alone move. Krillin's body on the other hand was completely done, and he was standing on will power alone. He wasn't sure what happened to him while he was out, but he was willing to bluff.

"Heh. I'm willing to call it a draw if you are." Krillin smiled and then looked directly into Aether's eyes. "Just as long as you don't go after my family." His smile faded and Aether stood there for a moment before a golden circle opened behind him revealing what looked to be the inside of a ship, a window in the background having a clear view of Earth.

"That was never my intention." Aether smirked. "I was curious about your power, it seemed to fluctuate with your emotions. An interesting power for a warrior." Aether said as he stepped into the portal. "Well Krillin of earth now that I've seen that power, you won't be so lucky a second time." Aether's eyes glowed golden as he starred through the portal.

"Anytime you're ready for round 2 pal." Krillin responded while his body screamed at him. The portal closed and Krillin's body became one with the ground.

"Is he gone?" Krillin heard the officer's voice and saw him stick his head out from a bush. He came out aiming his gun around for a minute and then came over to his superior.

"Yeah, looks like it." He responded completely frozen on the ground, there were definitely some broken bones.

"Anything you need sir?"

"I'm sorry, what was your name again?" He asked. The young officer stood at attention.

"Officer Lui, sir!"

"Okay officer Lui, pretty sure we're the same rank but yeah, could you call my wife?" Krillin wondered if what he had experienced was the same as Goku and Master Roshi. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch since they all used the same style and fundamentals of ki. He looked up and saw the sky brighten up to show the orange horizon of the evening, a smile plastered on his face.

The next couple of days were a bit trying for the mighty turtle warrior. His wife elected not to give him a senzu bean as punishment for doing something so foolish like trying to fight an alien assassin on his own. He didn't have many arguments against it, and accepted his punishment. Although he was confined to bed, he still found time to meditate and channel his ki to help with the healing. He also wanted to know if there was another way to access that technique without getting the snot kicked out of him. Luckily for him he had many visitors during this time. He learned from Bulma about the other saiyan Broly, and Freiza's attempt to use the dragonballs. She also scolded him for not reaching out for help while Marron imitated her in the background. Before she left, she dropped a tablet on his bed showing him that he was somewhat of a celebrity in the city now. The people at the bank and multiple witnesses talked about the super cop, who flew through the air and fought off a man who could crush things with his mind. It would have been completely unbelievable had a few people hadn't recorded it on their phones. That was when Krillin wondered if someone maybe caught his fight in the soccer field and sure enough the young officer had recorded most of it. He walked up to the house whistling and knocked on the door. Eighteen opened the door with sharp cold eyes.

"Oh hello, I'm officer Lui." He looked around nervously. "I was the one who brought—"

"I know who you are, he's in the back." Officer Lui nodded and went to go inside when an arm blocked his entrance and the tall blonde woman leaned in close. "If you overexcite him, I will make sure they never find you." The officer's eyes quickly shifted towards her with large sweat drops forming on his head.

"Is that officer Lui?" Krillin said from the back room. Eighteen stared at the officer for a moment, then smiled.

"Yes dear, it's Officer Lui." She moved her arm and he started to walk in then go towards the back. Halfway down the hall he saw Marron drawing on a piece of paper. She held up a picture of her mom squeezing the officer's head, making him quickly run to Krillin's room. Eighteen laughed to herself and walked over to her daughter. "Good job sweetie."

Lui was amazed at Krillin's recovery, for a guy who was in such bad shape before he didn't look half bad aside from his bruises and a cast on his arm. He was sitting up looking out the window, turning to smile at the officer.

"Lui, hows it going?"

"Oh, you know. Almost being murdered by your wife."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I shouldn't have sent you to break the news in the first place." Krillin said with his hand behind his head.

"It's okay, you saved my life." Krillin nodded and Lui smiled then he pointed in the air as if remembering something.

"Oh, I finally got the footage you wanted it." He reached into his pocket to grab his phone. "Took me a whole week, but I found it at the field. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was hiding behind that bush…sorry."

"Oh Wow!" Krillin said.

"No, shh." Officer Lui said but immediately felt a dark presence looming behind him. He heard the sound of cracking knuckles and slowly turned his head to see the Mama bear and the baby cub, both making fists. Krillin looked over but they were gone.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, must have been the wind." Officer Lui responded. "I do think you should take it easy though." He pulled up the footage so Krillin could see what happened. "Yeah, so after you blasted that guy into high heaven he came back and had you pinned down with that weird gravity power. I heard you screaming in pain so I was going to stop recording but then, well you just have to see it." Krillin looked at the screen and saw his body go limp, but then a large dust cloud explosion flew out covering everything. When the dust settled, Krillin was standing in front of Aether in a turtle style stance. It looked as if his eyes were closed and he didn't move until Aether tried to use his ability again. The camera couldn't catch the speed of the movement but the next moment Krillin had Aether by the wrist as his body was spinning towards the ground. Aether broke free of the hold as soon as body hit the ground for good reason. Krillin's fist was buried in the ground where he landed. He then tried to create distance between them, but Krillin moved as if he was attached to Aether's hip mirroring him. Each move that Aether threw was countered until Aether went to use his crush ability again. That was when Krillin opened his opponent up with an uppercut to the gut. As Aether went to attack again the phone went black. "Sorry, I ran out of juice." Lui said, but Krillin was sure that was around the time he had come to his senses. His body didn't move like Goku's did, and it definitely wasn't as crisp as Master Roshi, but somewhere in between more like a flowing stream that crashed when attacking then grew calm again, or violent wind that suddenly turned into a light breeze. Krillin blinked for a moment and then thought to himself. If he could find a way to get his own body to let go, and his years of training to take over then he might be able to do it at will.

"You know, I remember when that weird Cell guy attacked and Mr. Satan saved the world." Officer Lui said, causing Krillin to snap out of it and then side eye.

"Right."

"After seeing what you did, I know there's no way he beat that cell guy. It was you and your friends right?" Krillin looked for a moment and then smiled. "I saw a picture of you all together in your living room and I was sure that I saw you all. I was still in High school at the time."

"Well it was more so my friends, than me." Krillin said as he looked out the window again.

"I'm sure you could take him though." Officer Lui moved around comically doing martial arts stances or his variation of them. Krillin looked at his hand and gripped it into a fist. He knew he was nowhere perfect cell's power level that would have been a long stretch. His second form he might be able to match with charged energy but the gap was still a bit large. His eyes lit up as he remembered there would be a way to test himself against the enemies of the past. The room of spirit and time. He closed his eyes and started to concentrate on praying to the guardian of earth, and too his surprise he heard the familiar voice in his head.

After another week of healing on his own and having quiet time with his family, Krillin was finally given permission to use a senzu from Eighteen. She advised that next time he finds himself a lump of battered bones to not even bother calling for her. He understood where she was coming from and vowed to become good enough for it not to happen anymore if he could help it. Humans and saiyan's weren't too different from each other biologically so Krillin still had a good boost from pushing himself to the limit against Aether. It was nowhere near his alien and half alien friends but enough that he felt his new training would go smoother than he had first imagined. He stood out in the front in his gi stretching his newly healed limbs and stiff body before bouncing up and down a few times. He reached down and picked up his sack of clothes and made sure the senzu beans were inside.

"Have fun papa!" Marron screamed from the window.

"Papa will be back soon. I'll take you out to all the parks in the city when I do." He said and gave her a thumbs up, she smiled as he blasted off into the sky. His neighbors looking wide-eyed at the human rocket as it stopped, changed the directions and caused a sonic boom.

Krillin landed on the lookout to Dende and Mr. Popo waiting for his arrival. He looked around for Piccolo but he knew he wasn't there after feeling his energy elsewhere.

"Krillin!" Dende said as he walked towards his old friend.

"Dende, wow you've gotten even taller since the last time I saw you." He bowed in respect to the guardian of the planet. Dende smiled bashfully.

"Thank you."

"Hello Mr. Popo." Krillin said as he turned to bow to him as well.

"Welcome Krillin, you will find that we have made some modifications to the room of spirit and time." He gestured for the warrior to follow him. "Goku and Vegeta have wrecked majority of the other room so we can't access that dimension for a while."

"Figures." Krillin laughed as they walked through the long hall to another section of the lookout.

"The new room's features will rely heavily on your memories but and will be a little different than the previous one. Since you have felt firsthand the strength of the universes most powerful warriors, the room will use its spiritual properties to create an accurate copy down to the personality. We used the idea of the herb forest Master Roshi knew about." Dende said, and then paused as he looked over to Mr. Popo.

"Wow that's amazing but I sense a but coming." Krillin said.

"The damage done to your body inside will be the real thing, so if..." Popo responded.

"If I fight an opponent too strong and die, I'm dead. I get it. Pretty ironic though, killed by my own memories." Krillin said and then looked back towards the two. "Don't worry." He closed his eyes and his energy started to seep off of his body like a vibrant flame. The other warriors all felt it and looked towards the sky. Goku stopped for a moment during his training and smiled big, while Vegeta just scoffed. Piccolo continued to meditate with a smirk, while Tien just continued training on his own. Yamcha gripped his fist and slowly nodded, looking towards his gi hanging in the closet. Back on the lookout Krillin stood with his hands at his side and then relaxed to let his power disperse. He then bowed to the shocked Dende and Popo and headed towards the door. "If I do bite it in there, don't tell my wife okay." He gave a wave as he walked through the threshold of the door. Once the door closed the vast whiteness of the room briefly turned as black as the void of space with stars and planets floating above him. "Okay." He concentrated on his first opponent and closed his eyes, and had the sensation of traveling through light. His senses started to experience the familiar smell of lush exotic planets with humid air hugging tight to his body. It was unmistakable, he was on planet Namek. His memories had created a perfect replica down to the sounds of the animals and wind blowing over the terrain. He looked over to the replica of the ship he, Gohan and Bulma traveled on and although it ended in a nightmare the trip itself started as a great adventure. His nostalgia was short lived as he felt a familiar monstrous presence.

"Ho, Ho, Ho." The deep voice cackled from a far. Krillin opened his eyes to see Frieza in his second form, standing on a high plateau. "You will pay for what you did to my tail!" Krillin gripped his hands and then slapped the sides of his face and then gracefully performed a kame style form into his trademark stance.

"Let's go!"


	5. Chapter 5: Challengers

Chapter – 5 Challengers

* * *

The sound of rapid movements attacks exploded through the air as the sky flashed with bright streaks of red and one large clash, Frieza floated in the air breathing heavily in his 4th gripped his fist and yelled down at Krillin who had just landed near a large body of gi torn to shreds and one of his eyes closed due to a cut right above his right arm was badly bruised but he gripped his fist and wiped the blood from his eyebrow.

"They weren't kidding."He looked up to see Frieza pointing towards the sky.

"This is the end for you, infernal creature."A death ball started to form right above his body as Krillin took a breath and slowly widened his the battle he had been able to combine his newest discoveries in attempt to reach something which mixed power and , a solid technique is a force all in its own but against opponents with drastically different leaps in power and physical attributes technique could only go so been in this memory may have been another piece to what he was missing as he remembered the rush of first having his powers unlocked by the elder Guru and how his body closed his eyes and then crouched down into the same position that he and Gohan had used to power up against the Ginyu ground below him started to rumble as he pulled energy from the very ground below him, and the air around.

"Ha!" he yelled and in one mighty breath his energy jolted into his muscles bulking him up wasn't as large as Master Roshi max form or the one used by the Trunks from the future, but enough to be a moment he saw the young Gohan standing next to him and he couldn't help himself."Let's fire it up."His ki exploded around him in a mighty flame so dense that his body was obscured within shadow of the death ball grew larger above him but his ki he moved his hands outward quickly before slamming his wrists together.

"Die!" Yelled the frost demon as the coldness from the large ball of energy rushed down unto Krillin's shifted his eyes up, reared his palms back while the energy exploded into a large a mighty yell, Krillin twisted his body to brace for the output of his energy as the wave blasted off like a rocket connecting with the death ball creating a large one of them budged until Frieza fired smaller death beams into his death ball started to push Krillin's beam down so he dug his feet into the earth and then gave it all he had.

"More." He said as his arms were starting to rumble from the strange then 's muscles started to shrink down to their original state and his energy became darker and much death ball started to crack and splinter as Krillin pushed his drill like energy through it hitting Frieza's body right in the middle as the death ball dispersed in the started to fall from the sky with a large burn on his looked at his hands as the energy dispersed and felt something quite different, he almost didn't notice Frieza dashing towards him with bloodlust in his 's fist

"Heh." He said as he heard the body fall into two halves and then everything faded away into the whiteness of the spirit and time put his hands on his knees and let out a deep breath."Good thing I didn't think about the new Frieza, I would have been toast." He said as he straightened his back and then walked over to the exited the spiritual threshold where Dende and Popo were waiting for healed his wounds while Popo inspected the room.

"How was it Krillin?"Dende said as his energy started to extend over Krillin's wounds.

"It was amazing, Dende. It felt just like I was back on planet Namek."He rubbed his jaw. "In more ways than one."He laughed and Popo smiled at Dende's face, showing his was quite the burden to be so young and have a title and duty of guardian of the planet.

"Will you be returning again Krillin?"Popo asked.

"If it's okay with Eighteen." Krillin laughed and rubbed the back of his head then stretched his saw that Dende was looking down and tapped him on the back."So how has it been being the guardian of an entire planet?"Dende's face lit up and Mr. Popo nodded.

"Oh, well it's a bit lonely but Mr. Popo is great company."They started talking and walking through the lookout.

A month later, Krillin stood on an island within the room of spirit and had a few new scars from his training to perfect his new new training outfit courtesy of Dende and Popo, consisted of hand wraps that went up the length of his forearms, and blue ankle wraps that went up the length of his shins. His undershirt was more a more form fitting compression material thanks to was glad that everyone was so willing to help him, but they all agreed that defending the planet came with certain never thought about any of those things, just being a great martial of his training had been leading him up to the large green and bio-android standing before large tail swished around in the air before he pointed towards the turtle warrior.

"Move out of the way little man, my perfection is near."Krillin had gotten used to the enemies referencing things and people that weren't there almost robotically but in this case he played along.

"No way, Cell."Krillin said as he used a confident knew his wife wasn't behind him at that point but if she could have seen him he would have felt pretty smiled and wondered if Cell would react the same way he did in his memories so he readied enough the android charged a red ki blast charged within his palm and he fired it at Krillin who smack the blast away with a backhand and lowered himself into his stance.

"Grr." Cell growled and then hands quickly went up towards his face and he yelled. "Solar Flare!"hitting Krillin with the intensity of the make shift sun within the spirit walked up confidently as Krillin stood there with his eyes closed blinded by the sudden chuckled at the smaller warrior. "Undone by your own move!"He went to punch Krillin but hit nothing but eyes blinked a little as he was sure he had hit he followed up with a horizontal slash intended to slice the human in half but again nothing but air and Krillin's body was only slightly out of the range of his unleashed a barrage of attacks at Krillin who dodged them all with an almost mirrored situation from when Krillin had attempted to save Eighteen from cell in the real getting so angry that he destroyed the large rock face behind Krillin's evading body, his punch was held out for too 's back foot landed softly and then dashed in to deliver a punch right into cell's gut just like Vegeta had done all those years ago.

"First, that's Tienshinhan's technique."He then delivered a spinning heel kick to the large cyborg's jaw sending his crowned head forcefully to the gathered himself and then grabbed both of Krillin's shoulder's while blood trickled from his jaw.

"RAH!" He yelled as he went to slam Krillin into the ground, only for the warrior to fire two ki blasts from his hands and propel both of his knees into Cell face as the grip was broken.A dive kick then tapped the large cyborg on the chin like a bullet, causing his eyes to roll over dropped to his knees as Krillin landed in front of his kneeling opponent who was still taller than him.

"Heh."He said as cell shook off his stupor and then let his energy explode taking out most of the floated in the air above and he looked up and saw Cell above him with his hands in a triangle."Uh oh."He said as the energy started to build around the blast lit up the sky and created a large square hole in the ground below with no sign of the human warrior.

"Ha! That's what you get for trying to stop my perfection!"The revenant laughed not even noticing the warrior floating just behind him enveloped in a fine line of fiery like ki tracing his now more muscular body. Krillin had gotten closer to creating his own variant on the max form. He would call maximum focus which mixed power and technique. Cell let his tail go on the offensive stabbing at the smaller dodged the tail by using his small quick body to avoid being between the tail stabs Cell would threw out a heavy kick, which Krillin blocked with his forearm then spun his body as point of the tail came whizzing past his neck.A spinning backfist slammed into Cell's guard and the two started to exchange started to go more on the offensive, setting himself up to be in the perfect range to dish out some heavy one trade he let Cell punch his face, and rolled his body while grabbing Cell's arm and hip threw him over his shoulder while firing precision ki blasts in the same spot on his body to extend the Cell finally screamed out in pain, Krillin dove down and punched in the same spot he had been attacking almost as if he was torturing his opponent.

Cell slammed his tail down across Krillin's face successfully, causing Krillin to spin like diagonally like a one of the rotations he fired a ki blast point blank into Cell's face but which he used his arms to landed on the ground and then stood up straight and started to bounce lite on his was the 3rd time he had battled this version of cell, nearly dying the first thing Dende added the new time limit fail safe, otherwise he would have been stopped bouncing as Cell started to charge a large amount of energy.

"Here it comes."Krillin said as Cell yelled and fired a special beam closed his eyes and then sent his charged ki into his pupils."Max focus sight!" He said, using his trained eyes to move under the drill attack while finding the maximum line to travel to deliver a quick ki power punch to Cell's exposed gasped for air and coughed a mixture of blood and the other contents of his guts.

"I wonder." Krillin said, as he started to attack at Cell's face causing him to guard up high only wrap his foot in ki and accelerate final snap generating kick into Cell's injured started to cough and gag again until he regurgitated Android 17. Just as Cell was about to revert to his semi-perfect form the room went white and Krillin was back to the lobby of the spirit and time room."What?" he said as he exited the room to feel some familiar energies on the lookout."What's this? Time shouldn't be up for another 20 minutes."He walked out to see Goten and Trunks standing before him with their gi's on.

"Heya Krillin! Whoa nice outfit!"Goten smirked and rubbed his nose.

"Marron said you were up here training, and getting even said you beat Android 18." Trunks said almost in disbelief.

"Well…I wouldn't say beat."

"Let's spar!"Goten said. Krillin looked at the two of them.

"Come on Krillin!"Goten repeated.

"Uhh…."He looked towards Dende.

"Sorry, I was going to wait until you were done but they insisted."Dende apologized.

"We practically had to beg."Goten responded.

"Why me?" Krillin asked.

"Well, Goku and my dad fought with some crazy strong saiyan, and now they are like training together forever or something I dunno." Trunks shrugged.

"Yeah, and Gohan has been busy with work and when he's not working he's training with Piccolo."Goten rubbed his chin, he knew there was a reason he hadn't seen Piccolo around in a while.

"Besides you fought some alien dude who looked like that one hitman guy and he was really strong.

"Yeah, we saw the video!" Goten responded.

"My dad didn't admit it, but he was really interested in your moves. He made me show him the video like 3 times."Krillin side eyed them.

"Suspicious."

"Yeah, and my dad said it was always fun sparring with you ever since you were little."Goten added, causing Dende to side eye as well.

"Even more suspicious." Krillin responded, and then tapped his chin."Why do I have the feeling you two were sent to scope me out."

"What…nah, we just want to train too!"Trunks said nervously.

"Yeah!"Goten replied. Krillin looked at the two young warriors and nodded.

"Well okay."The boys jumped cheerfully and then tried to decide who would go played rock paper scissors until Trunks won.

"Rats." Goten said."Hey, don't go too hard.I want to get a chance to spar too."Krillin smirked, they were underestimating him already and why wouldn't they?Now he was certain that their fathers sent them to see what he had been doing up had been fighting artificial versions of their old enemies in the name of being a martial artist, of course the others would be curious.

"Alright boys, feel free to power up into your super saiyan mode if you want." They both looked at each other.

"Well we don't want to hurt you." They said in unison.

"Humor me."He responded.

Trunks dropped into a stance like his father and stood with one hand behind his back, like Master Roshi did at the tournaments in his Jackie Chun nodded to the young warrior who slowly moved his feet towards would be the first real person he spared since he had been using the new room of spirit and time.

"Alright!"Trunks screamed and dashed at Krillin with a quick one two punch blocked them both with one hand. Trunks looked surprised and then try two jumping high kicks. Krillin dodged one, and slapped the other one down so that his mid-section was exposed then delivered a palm strike to Trunks chest causing him to skid backwards a few eyes widened as he looked down at his wasn't like being struck by his father in training, that hurt on the attack seemed to radiate inside.

"What was that?"

"I disrupted the ki flow around your chest, it should be wearing off shortly." Trunks smirked and then vanished, popping up in areas all around Krillin as the turtle warrior followed him with his eyes.A whizzing kick aimed for Krillin's stomach seemed to make contact sending them both smiled faded when he realized that Krillin had a hold on his vision then quickly rotated from the sky to the lookout floor and back around again as his body was being rotated by Krillin twisting the boy's then stepped in and sent a high side kick towards Trunks who was able to dodge by dropping to the ground barely avoiding the attack.

"Whoa."Goten said as Trunks grit his teeth and dashed back in to Krillin going for a low sweep, where Krillin lifted his then landed on one hand and sent a kick towards Krillin's face which he blocked with his forearm, moving it closer to his body allowing himself to skid backwards from the then fired two ki blasts, Krillin adjusted his body with a wide stance and then dodge the first slightly letting it run over his palm and then controlling it with his own ki as the other blast came in hot he pushed the first orb into the second one causing a small dust cloud to appear in front of him and block Trunk's Krillin's body erupted from the smoke in a low sliding stance, then struck like a snake hitting each of Trunk's pressure points with pinpoint accuracy. Trunks swung wildly as his limbs all felt tingly, Krillin used the opportunity to send a forceful elbow into his gut.

"Oof" Trunks said grabbing his stomach and comically rolled to the side with his hand up. "Tag out." Trunks grunted.

"Tag!" Goten said as he slapped Trunk's hand and jumped in the air summersaulting a couple of times before dive kicking towards Krillin, who leaned his head out of the way of the attack and grabbed Goten's Gi swinging him twisted his body breaking Krillin's grip and landing a cat like was had clearly picked up good form from his mother Chi was crazy how much Goten looked like Goku when he was younger, it was bringing back all types of then advanced towards Krillin while he was lost in nostalgia.A quick one two palm strike combination hitting Krillin in the left thigh and upper right chest caused him to step felt the a little bit of ki disruption radiating from where Goten had struck him.

"Heh, he picked up Goku's adaptability as well."Krillin shook his body and then dropped into a more offensive copied him and then they both vanished, meeting each other in quite the display of martial arts one thing Krillin noticed was Goten had no variations in his attacks, he seemed to be timid and more careful than Trunks who was looking to go for power switched his strategy and filled the spaces in between Goten's attacks with time the young saiyan attacked, he was hit with soon Krillin's experience was starting to outweigh the boys natural speed and strength Goten had gotten little frustrated, he jumped into the air to crash down with a heavy axe square below them had shattered under his foot but Krillin was already low to the ground, swinging his body to sweep Goten's double palm striking him as his body floated in the air sending him flying over to boys looked at each other and then at had a sweat drop from the damage they had done to the floor of the lookout but he smiled seeing that they were all having boys stood up straight.

"Alright old man! It's time to get serious!"They both started to let their golden aura surge around their bodies causing a twin flame to eyes quickly flashed green and their hair spiked with an explosion of Ki causing Krillin's gi belt to flutter.

"Phew." Krillin said as he looked at the two super sayians before had only once sparred with Goku before the tournament, but their fight was cut short as Goku used his god ki to completely outclass took a breath and then slapped the sides of his face, which was becoming something he did to ground then stretched into a turtle style starting stance with his fingers curled into claws.

"Get ready, here we come!" They both flew at Krillin much faster than they had done first attack came from Trunks in the form of a heavy punch which Krillin dodged as the fist sent air blasting past then felt a foot bury itself deep in his stomach shooting him into the air.

"Yikes."Trunks followed up with a jumping roundhouse to Krillin's guarded body, sending him flying into the hall section for the he could reach it, Goten had appeared between him and the hall and fired an energy blast into Krillin's back sending his body flying back towards Trunks who fired a ki blast of his own into Krillin's boys were in perfect sync, which made sense since they shared a body during floated in the air and took another breath, as the boys were pleased with the exchange.

"Maybe it's too much."Trunks said cocking his head to the rolled his neck and stretched his felt way different from fighting in the spirit and time room which he had been doing over the past opponents were the real thing, not some revenants of his memories and it was raw power being their super saiyan forms was indeed incredible, but Krillin had expected gripped his fists and let his power slip out slowly, careful not to reveal his max just were a little confused by density of his aura as it slowly started to trail his body like a thin fiery outline.

"Alright boys, no need to hold back."Krillin said as he looked to both, crossed his arms and then quickly pointed at them sending wind towards both of their faces skewing their vision. Goten was the first to regain his sight just in time to see a knee coming towards his pushed down to block it, but was sent flying felt Trunks coming in fast and then grabbed Goten's shoulders and quickly rolled back to toss dodged this time, but was left open for Krillin's roundhouse kick hitting his snapped his leg back from the kick and dodged a flying uppercut from Goten by floating all floated for a moment, and then their speed increased nearly 10-fold attacking and defending flying through the air at great 's eyes had been quite trained so he could follow the fighters as the two smaller warriors were giving Krillin their best attacks. After Trunks tried to grab Krillin's shoulder, he felt his wrist being snatched down and then a foot smashing against the back of his head, sending him crashing into the had already started charging energy.

"Kamehameha!" They both yelled firing blasts at each other, point blank range. Krillin's wave was denser and with more control started to gain traction only for a purple blast to come from underneath causing a big explosion in the sky when it hit the other boys then started to coordinate attacks that would push Krillin back down to the lookout but they realized that Krillin had stopped attacking and had his eyes closed. They expected a solar flare at that range and prepared, but to their surprise his hands started to glow in a dense trailing thrusts his fist towards Krillin's stomach while Goten brought down another mighty axe kick, slicing through the no wasted movements, Krillin used his right hand to block the punch while putting his left forearm up to block Goten's axe their energies sending an explosive wind into the surrounding area of the lookout struggle was over and their energies started to die let go of the boys and they all landed and Trunks looked a little tired and dropped their super saiyan was quiet for a moment, until Krillin bowed to both boys.

"That was amazing!" Goten said rubbing the area's where Krillin had struck his pressure points, he even tried imitating the moves. Krillin shook his hands as they vibrated from those full force attacks.

"Yeah! Way more fun that training with Dad."Trunks said. "He just kind of clobbers me, or I try to clobber him."

"Well, thanks."Krillin said almost embarrassed by the two young warriors.

"You think you could teach us some of those moves?"

"I don't know, don't want to step on your dad's toes."Both boys looked at each other and then tapped their fingers together. "What?" Krillin asked.

"Okay, they did kind of send us to see what type of training you were doing."

"I knew it." Krillin said as he side-eyed then saw the boys practicing the moves on each throwback to him and Goku as children, flashed in his mind."Alright guys, first you have to learn proper breathing."Just as he was getting ready to show them a proper breathing stance a large beam of light hit the looked over to see the Angel Whis step out of the light and tap his cane on the ground."Whis?" Krillin said confused.

"There you are, I need you to come with me."

"Whoa, wait? What?"

"I'll explain on the way, but you can thank Lord Beerus and his brother Champa."

"I don't think I like where this is going."

"In the first tournament between the two brothers, Beerus wished for the Earth of universe 6 to be revived. They may or may not have gotten into a debate about which earth has the strongest humans and so, Champa may have also accidentally advanced his humans." They all had surprised looks on their faces.

"Don't you want to get Goku and Vegeta?" Whis grabbed onto Krillin's arm and smiled.

"No, not this time."

"Well can I at least tell my wife?"

"Don't worry I'll bring you back before you know it.

"Uh..." Before Krillin could say another word Whis's cane tapped the lookout and the white light engulfed his remaining four looked at each other as Trunks asked.

"Did Krillin just get kidnapped?"


	6. Chapter 6: The Guardians

Chapter 6 - The Guardians

* * *

Universe 6 – Age 780.

Earth of universe 6 miraculously goes from a barren wasteland back to a lush green planet in a matter of seconds. The inhabitants of the planet have no idea what happened, or remember any of the events that led to their destruction. The god of destruction Champa floats above the newly resurrected planet thanks to his brother and his champion from universe 7. He would never admit it, but he would forever be in debt to his brother in more ways than one. Now he would be able to enjoy delicious foods whenever he wanted. When he visited the planet, he was overwhelmed with joy after having the ramen of his new earth. It wasn't quite the same as the ones from his brother's universe but it really hit the spot. He decided to travel the world to taste the delicious foods they had to offer and, in his travels, he noticed something alarming. He came across a group of humans physically attacking a smaller group of humans with different colored skin. Vados had to stop him from destroying them all together out of anger, knowing that it would offset the balance of their universe. That was when he came to the realization that the humans would probably kill themselves all over again given time. Not wanting to lose his treasure trove of new foods, he and Vados ventured to planet Namek to make a wish upon the great dragon Tianlong. Their Earth was void of any alien presence, no saiyan's no Namekian's no super powered androids and lastly, they never advanced their energy based combat skills relying solely on weapons and technology. Champa wished for noble humans to have the power to protect the planet from themselves, and to have the time lost from their extinction restored. Tianlong agree to the two wishes with a glue from his blue eyes simultaneously on earth certain humans began to glow. This event was called the rise of the guardians.

The guardians displayed amazing powers from; super speed, telekinesis, weather manipulation, and many others. During the time skip many things happened due to their appearance in the world. At first, they were revered as gods, saving people and preventing wars along with assisting in natural disasters. Several them formed a group to make sure that they always protected the Earth from itself from itself like deeply rooted programming, an innate need to protect the world. Everything was good for a while until countries tried to get their heroes to fight wars on their behalf, some agreed while others stayed neutral. When majority of those in power feared that the guardians were out of their control, they decided to turn to science and create guardians of their own. There were only a handful of successful attempts at creating the manmade guardian's but the results were highly unstable, no matter which ability they had the host body would meltdown.

Never the less, they first fought against the guardians under the government's control. In the final act of that war, one of the strongest manmade guardians faced off against earth's mightiest human the mighty Titan. Many lives were lost during the conflict culminating in the manmade guardian Nuke threatening to reduce the world to ash. As he went to destroy himself along with half of the planet, Titan flew them both into space where they would explode together in the atmosphere. The entire world mourned the loss of the hero and came together to try and keep peace, that was until the day Titan arrived back on earth changed. He told them that he had seen the edge of the universe and the reason for all their suffering, the gods. Titan's power was far beyond the abilities of the guardians now both natural and manmade. He even found a way to keep the manmade guardians from melt down. After getting the rest of the world in line, he devised his plan to capture a god.

Champa couldn't wait to see how much better his earth's ramen would be now, and made his way down to the planet with Vados. While he was sitting waiting for his food he noticed that children of all colors were playing together and he smirked.

"See Vados, my plan worked." Champa said proudly.

"Hmm?" Vados responded as she looked behind Champa to see a man floating in the sky with a cape fluttering behind him. The strongest man on the planet, the guardian whose powers had evolved to see the very creation of atoms and by that regard, energy.

"Greetings." He said as he floated down in his battle Gray and blue battle armor with a large star symbol in the middle of his chest. Vados looked curiously while Champa leaned back in his chair.

"Who are you?" Champa asked.

"I am Titan." The human bowed to the two like they were his esteemed guests.

"Okay, well off with you. I'm trying to eat."

"Apologies, it's not every day the one gets to meet their maker. Champa, god of destruction." Titan looked up with a strange smile.

"How do you know who I am?" Champa stood up and let his presence of death and destruction hang over the caped human hero standing before him unbothered.

"Let's just say, I was enlightened." He held his hand out manipulating energy slowly to show the events leading up to the destruction of earth, and its resurrection. Then the emergence of the guardians. "I had to be ripped apart, and put back together atom by atom." Titan said as he looked up with glowing white eyes. It looked as if miniature suns were in his eye sockets. He then gripped his fist causing the earth construct to explode. Champa looked confused but also felt a little strange. Vados also started to sweat which was odd. Champa growled.

"Vados, I'm feeling a strange energy from this guy. What's going on?"

"I…I'm not sure, but I think we should leave for now Lord Champa." Champa looked at Vados as if she was joking.

"Me? Run from a mortal?!" Champa's energy flared around him sending the tables and chairs in their area flying into the air. Titan's cap fluttered behind him as the pressure hit his body.

"Magnificent, and quite terrifying." Titan responded as the weight of the gods power pressed down on him.

"You insolent." Champa lifted his hand to perform a destruction art on Titan, purple energy hitting the guardian's body sending him skidding backwards and for a brief moment as his body started to disintegrate. To their shock, Titan's eyes started to glow again and he crouched down while his body started to reverse the destruction down to his uniform. He slowly stood back up straight and looked at the two who seemed to be getting weaker.

"I must thank you for the power granted to me, or should I thank the green ones on Planet Nam-ek?" Champa lifted his hand again but started to feel weaker and weaker, Vados was even gripping her staff.

"Vados, what is this?" Champa asked as one of his ears drooped. Vados looked up to the sky and noticed a field of energy around the planet.

"It seems they have set a trap for us."

"I took years for me to find the energy pathway of the gods, but thanks to this gift I now understand how energy works." He lifts his hands causing different color energies to sparkle in the shape of atoms. "I could never match the energy of the gods, but I will someday."

"Vados, go and get Beerus and Whis. They will know what to do."

"Lord Champa…" Champa's hand waved in front of her.

"You're much stronger than I am, you can get out of this while I hold him off." Vados looked at Champa's back starting to hunch over and his chest heaving. It was the first time in over a couple centuries seeing him in such a state. Vados nodded and then tapped her cane sending light towards the sky.

"Not so fast!" Titan said and fired lasers from his eyes up at the light hitting Vados in the shoulder. The laser beams dropped down quickly as Champa had kicked Titan in the stomach. It was enough for Vados to successfully leave the planet. Titan looked over to Champa with glowing white eyes and smiled. "Now it's just you and me." Champa had never felt so weak, and this human before him had found a way to bring him to such a state. All he wanted was some ramen. He yelled and then went to attack Titan only to be showered in the full intensity of his eye lasers causing his vision to slowly fade into darkness.

"So, that's how it is?" Krillin said.

"It seems that way. This Titan fellow can now manipulate one of the fundamental forces of the universe on an atomic level. Not too unlike the assassin you faced on Earth."

"Wow, you saw that fight as well."

"There's not much that gets past my eye Krillin. I've also popped in on your training a couple of times." He smiled towards Krillin. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"Uh, no problem." Krillin said nervously.

"In any event, it was how I knew you would be the right person for the job." He pulled up a hologram of earth within their slip stream. "Only humans can get through the field. Not even your wife or Android 17 would make it through."

"Well that's convenient."

"Don't tell me you're still doubting yourself Krillin? I did mention that I saw you training correct?"

"Right." Krillin said as he looked out into the large universe whizzing by.

"Interesting, this Kame style. Your master may very well be one of the greatest teachers in the galaxy." Krillin smiled and then looked up to see the dimensional barrier for Universe 6, he hadn't seen it since the first tournament between Beerus and Champa. As soon as they entered they landed within a barrier on the moon. To his surprise he saw some familiar faces.

"Tien!" He saw the large warrior with his arms crossed and next to him the lone wolf. "Yamcha!" Krillin walked over to greet both warriors.

"Hello Krillin. I see your training has gone well." Tien stated as he put one fist into his open palm and bowed. Krillin returned the gesture.

"Yeah you got jacked buddy, you should invite me to spar some time." Yamcha said jovially with a nudge to Krillin's ribs. Suddenly they all felt a heavy presence so thick it was hard to breathe.

"Are you lot done?" Beerus said as he walked over. They all turned to him stood firm.

"Ah, yes Beerus. Lord Beerus." Krillin quickly corrected himself. "You lot need to go down there and free my idiot brother and remove whatever barrier is surrounding the planet so that I can make it extinct once again."

"But aren't there other people there who deserve a chance?" Krillin responded without thinking of the ramifications. Beerus cut a stare towards him immediately.

"If it wasn't for me, that planet would be a pile of dust floating in the coldness of space." His energy flared around him for a moment but Krillin didn't back down. He slowly looked back up towards the god of destruction. Whis had finished healing up his sisters' wounds with his time reversal.

"There you go Vados." Whis said as his looked as good as new.

"Father is not going to be pleased about this." She responded, straightening her clothes.

"Oh, come now. This isn't the worst thing that's ever happened because of those brothers and it won't be the last."

"You have a lot of faith on those mortals."

"They are truly full of surprises, especially those turtle warriors." They looked over to the short human warrior standing before the god of destructions wrath. He was trembling with fear inside but a true warrior's grit on the outside.

"Fine." Beerus said. "I can't say that my brother will feel the same way. So bring him back and we will see." Krillin bowed.

"Thank you lord Beerus."

"Don't thank me just yet." He looked over to Whis. "Did you tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Krillin looked over to both Tien and Yamcha who looked down.

"I figured I would wait until we got here." Whis responded and looked over to the three human warriors. "It seems that the law of twin universes still holds true, and your counterparts will be on this Earth."

"Wow, that's pretty cool." Krillin responded. Yamcha shook his head. "What now?"

"Your counterpart is this Titan fellow." Krillin looked at them blankly for a second, and then crossed his arms. "Fighting him may result in some sort of feedback, so be careful. Lord Zeno's tournament was protected from those effects but here you will be on your own and we will be powerless to help."

"Anything else?"

"Yes." Vados stated as she walked over and looked doubtfully at the human warriors. "Titan might soon find a way to harness the powers of a god. If that happens you will be powerless to stop him." The warriors all looked at each other and Krillin's leg started to shake for a moment. That fear was returning to him in waves, and what was more if he perished there alone without being able to tell Eighteen what happened he would never forgive himself not even in the after lift. He looked over to Whis who slowly nodded. Krillin then steadied his hands and slapped the sides of his face.

"Alright, let's do this." They went over the plan and then looked down to planet Earth of universe 6.

Whis and Vados were able to locate the dimension for the room of spirit and time on that Earth and temporarily open a doorway for the 3 warriors. They appeared in the middle of the night sky quickly adjusting to the free fall by flying. Krillin looked to the other two as they formed a tighter formation.

"Wow, this earth feels different but the same." Yamcha said.

"I'm not feeling any other ki users besides us." Tien responded.

"I believe these guardians are the closest thing to ki users here, but we definitely shouldn't underestimate them." Krillin said thinking back to his fight with Aether.

"Could be nice you know, being the top dogs for once." Yamcha said flying upside down with his hands behind his head.

"Champa was top dog." Tien said causing Yamcha's smile to twist but not fade.

"Well at least I wasn't left out this time." He looked out at the foreign skyline as they descended. "This isn't a suicide mission is it?" The former bandit asked.

"This Titan guy planned years for Champa's arrival. Our energy is a lot different from god ki, so we will need to hit him hard and fast before there is a chance for him to do the same to us." They flew over a highly developed city and stopped for a moment. Krillin closed his eyes and then let his ki sense flow outward. Although they weren't ki users, the guardians still gave off a signature. He just had to hone in on it. Slowly he started to feel the guardians in the city below as forces of nature. He could feel the footsteps of speedsters running along the ground, the heat from a fire wielding guardian, and many others. Then as if he was seeing the sun floating on earth he felt it, the large guardian power of Titan. The other two noticed Krillin's face.

"What is it?" Yamcha asked.

"He's strong, really strong but he doesn't have god power yet. Still this won't be easy." Just then lights flashed on them in the night sky. Humanoid men and women wearing armor floated before them with red and blue lights flashing from their wrists.

"Unregistered Guardian's land now for identification." A voice said from within one of the helmets.

"When is it ever easy?" Tien smirked and Yamcha took a fighting stance.

"I repeat, unregistered guardian's land now for identification or you will be processed." The armored patrol all lifted their hands and had different colored energy swirling around their hands.

"Fellas, let's save a god." Krillin said, as they all let their ki explode around them lighting up the night sky with the trailing sound of a howling wolf.

* * *

Next Chapter: Clash of the Titans.


	7. Chapter 7: Clash of the Titans

Chapter 7 – Clash of the titans.

Earlier that day.

The citizens of Olympus City looked to the sky as a large shadow started to cast across the skyline. Many had known the day would come when Titan's forces stormed the city on his last stop to unite the powers of the world. While many welcomed the unity as a sign of peace and control, others who didn't believe in the ideology of one power ruling them all had prepared for a last stand. Over the past years they had been many to oppose Titan, but now they are the last. Armored guardians exited the fortress and descended to the ground below to fulfill their leaders' mission. As soon as their feet touched the ground they were met with resistance from the opposition. Their powers clashing sending streaks of lights, rumbles of energy and all types of movements. It soon turned into a battlefield as the ones who hadn't already evacuated were being shielded by the Titan Corps.

From one of the highest buildings in the city, the sounds of keys on a keyboard echoed through a large office as Mayor Cyan Shorts sat behind her display. Her eyes scrolled at an amazing speed as she looked through troves of information while the city around her was being wracked with explosions. The building shook causing her to grip the side of her desk where a picture fell over unto the surface snapping her out of it.

"Damn it. I'm out of time." She said as she glanced at the window, and saw a winged guardian flying away from a couple of Titan Corps members or TC's. She stood up and walked over to the glass to take a good look at what she had built figuratively and literally. Suddenly the door opened with a group of people in suits standing outside, they all look ready for action. A woman wearing mixture of damaged armor and military style clothing hurries into the room lead by a stone-faced member of the Mayor's security. Cyan smiled and her demeanor changed to that of a more somber one.

"What's the meaning of this? I should be out there fighting, and you should have evacuated!"

"No, what kind of protector would I be to let my city fall without me at the helm." Mayor Cyan said as she glanced back at the window. Gia gripped her fists in anger but did her best to keep her composure.

"You can't stay here. You must leave now. If you're captured then all hope is truly lost." She said with a sense of urgency in her voice. Cyan looked at Gia and could see her younger self, ready to take on any challenge thrown her way.

"No, I don't think I will be going anywhere."

"But why?" Gia asked.

"After I have been captured, Titan's conquest will have the final piece to his world dominating puzzle. He's doing all of this because of what we planned all those years ago after the war."

"I don't understand." Gia said as another explosion rang out against the building. Cyan smiled and then pointed towards the desk. Sasha walked over and picked up the picture that was lying face down on the surface. Looking at the cracked glass she saw a younger Cyan along with other guardians. Cyan was in her old battle armor and two other surprises, a young Titan and her own parents.

"We were all friends once and had many adventures. Saved the world a couple of times and started the guardian's groups that became the TC. The suits they're wearing are all based on my design. I don't have any guardian abilities, instead I relied on technology. I wanted the world to know that you didn't need to be special to help people. Times were different back then, when guardian abilities meant you're family had a winning ticket to life." Gia continued to look at the photo but listened. "They hosted the guardian battles to see who would represent the country against the rest of the world. That was where I met your parents and Titan. He was much different back then; young, always smiling and barely able to understand his great ability. We didn't get along at first as even within the guardian community, certain abilities were held higher than others. Your mother was basically royalty with her healing ability, while your father's density control just made him seem like he was only good for taking damage. Titan's abilities grew as our battles continued and we learned that he was different and the government grew weary. We went on to win the games and formed a group of guardians that would strive to create true equality, but I think it was really made for us to keep Titan under control. That was years before the war broke out between rival countries with guardians used as weapons. It escalated and we had to make a lot of hard decisions, with Titan making the greatest sacrifice of us all. He gave up his life to help a world that was afraid of him, or what he would become. After he miraculously came back from death in that horrible war, he wasn't the same. Said he had seen gods, other worlds, and resurrections. The ones of us who survived the war had no reason to doubt him, we were mostly all just glad to have him back. He had one vision, one goal. To unite the planet against the beings who toyed with our existence." She paused and shook her head. "I helped create that thing out there; that machine." Gia gripped her hand and it started to glow with fire.

"You think I didn't know that! My parents loved you like their own family. You let them…" She paused and looked down at the picture. "You are the only one who can help us. To make up for all of those who've died, who've been eaten by that machine!" Her flames erupted from her fists as her eyes started to burn as well. The picture frame started to melt a little from the heat.

"I haven't forgotten, least of all about your parents. I think about them every day." Sasha flashes back to the day her parents died fighting against Titan's generals. She remembers Gia's hand resting on her shoulder just like it was now, helping her to calm down. "All is not lost. Gia said as another rumble shook the building."

"What can we do against that monster?"

"Prometheus." A section of the wall opens behind them with Cyan's old armor inside. "I've made some adjustments for your elemental abilities." She notices her parent's old emblem and rubs her hand across it. Gia presses a button on her watch and the pieces of armor start to break down and then reassemble unto Sasha replacing her own broken pieces. "Your father was always nagging me about putting cool things in my armor. I still hear his laugh sometimes when I'm tinkering around." Sasha doesn't allow herself to cry; the tears evaporate as soon as they touch her cheeks.

"Even with this." She squeezes her hands feeling the boost already. "It won't be enough to stop him."

"You won't need to. I've been keeping tabs on Titan for years. Everything in his ship is something I designed. I've seen what he has done to protect the planet from outside forces, and I know what he has hidden inside his fortress."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure entirely. I started receiving these strange transmissions that seemed to come from outside of our realm of space. It didn't make sense at first, but with the things Titan said I couldn't deny that maybe he hadn't gone completely insane."

"What's there?"

"I'm not sure but from what I can tell is that it will be either a key to our liberation or complete destruction." She goes over to her computer and types something in causing the armor to respond. "I've coded the access codes you will need to get to where you need to go."

"How do you know this will work?" Gia asked and looked out the window at the overwhelming odds.

"I have hope." She responded, on her computer screen was a wolf, a crane, and a turtle. She looked at Gia one last time and smiled. "You're strong Gia, you've always been." A large sonic boom rang out and a light as bright as the sun started to approach the building. "You have to go now." The door opened and the security detail poured into the room. Another young rebel guardian was waiting outside for Gia. He was wearing the same type of clothing that Gia before her upgrade.

"Nice suit. We have to go." He said and then opened a portal behind them. Gia looked back as Cyan nodded and turned towards the ball of light approaching the window, when the door closed and Gia found herself in a park far from the building. At the same time a large explosion shattered the glass at the top of the building with the ball of light floating in front. Cyan had shielded her and the others with a force field from the armored gauntlet under her sleeve.

"Hello Cyan. Glad to see you're still a capable guardian." The figure of a short muscular man started to float downwards through the open window as the light behind him started to fade until it was just coming from his eyes.

"Titan…" Cyan said as her force field started to fade away.

"It won't be long now, I'm sure you've figured out that I finally trapped a god. Thanks to that energy field of yours." As he continued to walk forward the security detailed surrounded him and revealed that they all had enhanced armor under their suits. With great coordination and unison, they all formed around Titan in front of Cyan.

"All of you stand down!" She yelled, but none of them complied. They all smiled and started to activate their abilities making their armor glow. The one standing in front of her shook his head.

"You've given us a duty when we were lost. We will not let you go down alone." Cyan stood silently knowing her words would go unheeded.

"Well this is perfect. Testing my new abilities on your elite guards, or should I say the defectors from the corps." His hands started to glow with the same energy as the god he had trapped, it wasn't as strong and gave the room the atmosphere of a black hole.

"Yaaaa!" They all yelled and attacked Titan together, clashing in another brilliant flash of light. Gia and Porter took on TC's on their way to the fortress. Porter was amazed at how well the new armor was handling Gia's abilities, she was literally a force of nature. Causing the ground to rumble, using the wind the fly and throw balls of fire at the guardians while he created portals behind them sending them into each other to add to their confusion. There were still more ahead and most of the rebels had been captured, or worse.

"Alright leader, there's no way we can get up to that fortress through all of them."

"I'm no leader." Gia said as she dropped a guardian with a heavy fist surrounded by rocks.

"Well you're all we got." He quipped, and then looked towards the sky at the overwhelming odds. "Titan is probably going to be after you soon. They say he can see pretty much anything, and if he got to the Mayor." Flames burned away the rocks on Gia's fists, and Porter lifted his hands. "I'm just saying."

"Well don't, either help me get on that ship or go find someone else to die with."

"Dark…." He put his hands on his hips and then looked up. "Well, I can't really portal you in from here. We will have to get closer and for that we are going to need a distraction." He grabbed his head for a moment. "Ow!"

"What is it?"

"I don't know, it was like someone just created a large portal across time and space. All guardians with travel abilities can feel each other's powers, but this was different."

"Different how?"

"Well…it felt like every traveler on the planet just all used their powers at once." The sun finally set behind the fortress and in the distance, they saw 3 falling stars flying towards the ground fast and then blast off horizontally towards a group of TC's. "What the hell?" Porter said as Gia took notice but it wasn't really a concern right now. As she went to focus on the fortress they heard a wolf howl across the city. "Really? Was that a freaking wolf?" Gia's ears perked up and she looked back towards where the stars went.

"Portal us over there."

"But the fortress."

"You said I was your leader, right?" She responded, causing Porter to stand up straight and give a salute. Her armor was reacting to the strange energy of whoever just fell from the sky. Cyan also smiled as she was being loaded unto one of Titan's cells.

"Hope?" Gia asked quietly as she stepped dashed through the portal.


End file.
